Recap: “Mannequin 3: The Reckoning”
Sam tries to explain the pattern to her. I’m stunned his FBI cover isn’t blown yet. Is everyone in this town that thick? He asks what she’s wearing of Rose’s. A ring, a locket, something. She starts to get very frightened, but then remembers something. When she was 16, Rose gave her a kidney. She wants to know what this is about. He’ll explain it, but she’ll have to come with him. Seriously?? When a gigantor like that starts throwing that kind of talk at me, I kick him in the nuts and run very far away. As far as I fucking can. To Montana. I don’t care if he’s pretty and has great hair. This is bizarro world this week though, so she goes.
A parking lot at night. Oh boy, this is not going to go over well. It’s the Impala! Sam gets out and leaves the sister inside. She’s not looking too happy. Dean asks if she’s the girl with the haunted kidney. Yep, that leaves you in quite a pickle, huh? “Just when you think you’ve seen it all,” Dean says. You know, that’s the wisest statement I’ve heard all episode. Sam and Dean go through all the options. They can’t burn the kidney, she needs it. She can’t keep it either, or Rose will keep killing people. They can’t cut it out of her and leave her in a tub of ice with a phone taped to her hand. No, you definitely can’t do that. That’s a pretty gruesome thought. Dean suggests Dr. Robert might have some black market non-haunted kidneys. Sam reminds Dean he works in the back of a butcher shop. “It’s pretty clean, you’d be surprised.” Sam surmises they’re going to have to go hoodoo. Dean says it’s more of a band aid than a cure. “It buys us a minute,” Sam says. Thank God, we’ve finally got an interesting conversation! I only waited through almost the entire episode.
Dean agrees, Louisiana it is. Damn, I wanted to see that. All this time wasted so you can tease me with Louisiana?? Isabel gets out and wonders why they’re talking about voodoo. Dean clarifies it’s hoodoo, it’s different. Hey, I want to know why! I’ve always wondered. Instead of wasting all that time throughout the episode on pointless drawn out scenes, you could have taken time to educate us all! Now I’ve got to go wiki it myself.
Isabel only now figures out they’re not feds. Geez sister, I was thinking I’d have to draw you a map. Before Sam can explain, the Impala starts revving it’s engine. Did I mention Dean’s in the parking lot with Sam, no where near the car? Dean starts saying his no, no, nos and Isabel says this is impossible. What part of your dead sister killing people through your kidney makes this impossible? “She possesses sex dolls, this is not a sex doll.” The Impala engine roars louder and the headlights come on. Me thinks Rose begs to differ Dean! Now Dean is mad. “Hey you leave my baby alone! She’s got nothing to do with this!” Yeah Dean, angry spirit doesn’t give a crap.
The Impala spins the wheels and rolls forward. Dean waves Sam and Isabel off and runs interference, letting the Impala chase him through the parking lot. Sam puts Isabel in the car. Wherever Dean runs, the Impala follows. “Son of a bitch…” he says in full flee. This is actually quite amusing. Isabel watches and stupid bitch gets out of the car. That tells me right there she must have on a red shirt underneath her jacket. Dean corners himself in front of an abandoned store front and readies himself. He has a plan. “I’m so sorry baby,” he says before jumping out of the way. The Impala goes through the building. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, Impala damage really hurts me, even though I know she’s made of tough Detroit steel and can take it.
Just when this episode finally gets interesting, they go for the unbelievable fucking “WHAT THE HELL????” plot twist. Sam runs up to see if Dean’s okay. Yep. He asks if he and Isabel are okay. Sam says yes, but the realizes he spoke too soon. Isabel is standing there, drooling blood, a freaking chunk of glass in her kidney. SERIOUSLY??? She wasn’t even close to the wreckage. Plus it nails her in the haunted organ? So are we to believe this was just a freakish twist of nature or that someone (aka Rose) plunged it there? We’ll never freaking know, since this inconceivable development was shrugged off by everyone. Would it have hurt for Sam to ask who did that and Isabel point to the Rose ghost?
Isabel is dying on the ground and suddenly Rose appears. She says, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this.” So, is she apologizing for doing Isabel in? No matter, for Isabel croaks and we have another innocent victim for the death pool. Wow, I’m just feeling the happiness right now (that’s sarcasm if you didn’t pick up on that). Rose disappears in a cloud of flames. Sam and Dean don’t notice, for they’re too stunned over the corpse next to them.
Next we see the assortment of junkers at Bobby’s house, including that Chevelle of Bobby’s that I still want to paint. How many years has it been now that I’ve appealed to TPTB to hold a contest over who gets to paint Bobby’s Chevelle? You’re missing a golden opportunity here guys.
Anyway, Dean is fixing the Impala. No need for panic, she’s in perfect hands. Sam asks “How’s it look?” It??? This is souled Sam you silly writers. SHE. Sam would say she. “Considering she got hijacked by Poltergeist, it could be worse.” Man, that’s the best line you all can come up with? No Christine references? Really? Talk about golden opportunities missed.
Dean asks what exactly did they do back there? You tried to save an innocent girl and…you failed. “Yeah, I’m not putting it in the win column either,” Sam answers. That’s one of the major bummers of season six you know. They have a massive losing record going here. It’s no fun watching teams with pathetic losing records you know, any sports nut knows that. Dean sums it all up just in case any of us got really wise and decided to fast forward through most of this episode. I wish I had. “We saved a few dicks and we killed an innocent girl. I’ve got a heartbroken kid and a woman that’s so pissed at me…see what you mean about facing your past, it’s awesome, thanks. All we do is make a mess.”
Sam has chosen to be the “glass half full” guy this week. Thank God, for if anyone needs a pep talk right now, it’s Dean. “That’s not true. We do save lives, now and again.” Yeah, Dean, think about the six billion or so you and Sam saved last year. Dean knows that’s true, but he’s not getting any comfort from it. He’s tired of the bad luck. You want to know how much worse that luck’s about to get Dean? Sorry, not helping. Sam carries on the pep talk. “Well, you know, number one bad luck is kind of the job description, two, it’s not all bad. Really, look at me, at least Satan’s left the building.” Luckily he left the hair unscathed (sorry, I had to get that in there).
Dean complains it’s the little things. Okay Dean, you asked for it, Sam’s got more bigger picture stuff. “And I have a soul, because of you. I never thanked you for that, did I?” You know, he strangely didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to see it here, but I would have been happier with the fantasy that he thanked Dean a long time ago and we never heard it. Isn’t not thanking out of Sam’s character? Then again, even with his soul back, this isn’t really Sam. I didn’t realize how much this wasn’t Sam until the finale. Parts are still missing. The dark parts.
Dean tells him don’t mention it, he would have done the same for him. Sam keeps going. “We keep our heads down, we keep swinging. We’ll lose some, hopefully we’ll win more. I don’t know, anyway, for what it’s worth, I’ve got your back.” Dean answers “Yeah, I know,” but he doesn’t seem to happy about that. Huh? I get he’s feeling down and all that but, considering this guy technically tried to kill him a few months ago (or at least set him up to be killed), this is quite something. This too ties into the finale. Look at what Sam puts himself through to help save Dean. Brings a whole new meaning to “I’m not leaving my brother alone out there,” doesn’t it?
Ouch, that was way more painful the second time around. I had only watched this once before. I don’t think it’ll be making my repeat list. Ah well, onto better episodes now.
Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
I can’t disagree with how bad this episode is, but for me NOTHING will top the Lucky murdered three people and is programmed to turn anyone who takes him in into more skinwalkers, but we’re letting him go because he’s a really cute dog and he looks so sad about the fact that his former owner didn’t like him watching her get naked and then snuggling in bed while he was in dog shape.
This was boring, All Dogs Go to Heaven squicks me in so many ways and worst of all Soulless!Sam is the one who wants to do the right thing and put down the murderous Lucky and Dean is willing to let the supernatural monster go.
I’m not saying you’re wrong to hate this so much. It’s just a different strokes for different folks situation.
You are brave (or cruel) to recap this one…it truly was the worst of the season…and that says a lot!
This is one of many reasons this episode sucks:
“This conversation bugs me on so many levels. Are we to assume that after all they’ve been through, Sam and Dean can’t handle a mature, healthy exchange of words designed to help one another? Come to an understanding that doesn’t involve Dean dictating rules and Sam agreeing even though he doesn’t think it’s right? That usually results in Sam doing what he wants behind Dean’s back.”
That and the awful MOTW, add to that the first of two suggestions that Dean is a recreational drug user of the season (yeah, it’s a sudden revelation and not a good one, hope they never go there again.) It’s bad enough to have him the alcoholic that he is without dealing with his issues in a healthy way but it’s character assasination in the making to have him be a drug user too. Hope we sweep it under the rug and never see this brought up again.
Would love to see the brothers dealing with their hell experiences and thus supporting each other…it’s rich territory to mine, the kind that SPN used to do so well…here’s hoping for better in Season 7.
Knowing how this pained you to write up the article but you did it because you ‘vowed’ you would…I say thank you.
As the norm, your added comments make it all the worthwhile to read, although rewatching it is another thing entirely.
Oh Alice, thank you for sacrificing yourself to watch this episode again, and having to really pay attention to it for the recap. But I agree with Percysowner that “All Dogs Go to Heaven” was the worst episode of season six, except for it giving us “sniper Dean”, now that was worth the price of admission. Oh, I’ll just say, let’s agree to disagree.
Now that’s out of the way, there were so many missing pieces in this episode, it was criminal. These two writers haven’t wowed me this season. If they are back in season 7 I hope they step up to the plate. And you’re right, they did not get Sam & Dean at all. Sam gets his soul back, what, three episodes ago and you’re splitting them up? WTF!!!!
Let’s hope you have more fun with the next episode to recap. But I do enjoy how you can rip a boring episode apart, it’s a thing of beauty. On to season 7 I say.
Thank you for doing this Alice! I must admit I do enjoy reading you when you rip into one you don`t like! It`s a guilty pleasure :-*
Every year is the same, there are always a couple of rotten eggs , the ones we don`t endlessly re visit and this, and ADGTH, were this year`s candidates for `runts of the litter`. All this from someone who still loved Season 6 and never once wavered, but really, in parts these were bad. That`s not to say that both episodes did not have their moments, I loved that dog and well – Sniper Dean! I just think it did the Lisa and Ben story such a disservice to be lumped in with this awful plot.
It was as if the writers had no idea about the characters of Sam and Dean at all, everything just seemed `off` and artificial.
How about we just draw a veil over it and move onto the next one, I for one cannot wait to read your recap of that 😆
Ju
GOOD DEAL, ladies!
This was again a fun read… it’s not one of my fave episodes, either, but it gives us some nice scenes (and shallow moments… yes, I’m with you there… can’t be a sensible woman all the darn time. What was I given eyes for? 😆 )
Thanks, Alice, heroic editor-in-chief! More of this, please…
Love, Jas
What a martyr, Alice. I just can’t watch this a second time. Actually, though, I’m undecided about whether this was the worst of the mediocre season, or if it was Lucky, or Unforgiven. I’m leaning forwards a tie between this and Unforgiven, because I thought the Lucky episode had some wonderful camera shots and the boys looked hot in that episode.
Let’s see, you covered everything I disliked about this episode: the Lisa most beloved character montage, the dialogue that ensured Lisa/Ben were the loves of Dean’s life, the boys splitting up, the kidney seeking shard of glass, Dean being completely dumbed down, the bad characterization of both brothers, the further character assassination of Dean into an boozer, a drug addict, and incompetent hunter….yeah, this episode sucked. But then, I thought all of S6 was bad.
I don’t necessarily think that J2 phoned in their performances; I just think they couldn’t do any better with the concept and terrible script.
I agree with you there Ginger, I don’t think our two leading men phoned in their performance. As the consummate professionals that they are and will always remain, they did what they were told to do with a very mediocre script. Hats off to both of them. I guess we all have crappy days at work, that must count for actors also.
Come on guys and girls, it wasn’t that bad.
There were worse episodes this season, *cough* ‘Clap Your Hands If You Believe’ *cough*
We still got Sam and Dean enjoying a beer together. We believe Sam this time, when he says that he has Dean’s back.
We heard Dean call the Impala ‘baby’. That has to be worth some love. 😀
I liked Hammer of the Gods, too.
Just for the record, I too liked Hammer of the Gods. (but then I also liked Bugs, for all the brotherly stuff in it) Hey, my favourite Trickster is in it!
In Mannequin I liked the Dean/Lisa/Ben stuff but my heart was hurting for Dean through all of that. Yes, I love Lisa and Ben. So there!
Also, I really liked the dog Lucky, the sniper Dean and the mean and cold Sam. There seems to be in every episode whether loved or hated something to recommend it and personally, none of the episodes are so bad that I would stop watching then as reruns, EXCEPT for Chris Angel is a Douchebag! I DO NOT like that episode, except for Dean at the S&M factory. Someone else may love it just as much as I don’t. That’s OK. Variety is the spice of life.
All in all, Season 6 comes fourth on my list of most loved seasons. In order, 1,2,3, 6,5,4.
Just glad that every season there is plenty to please each and every one of us, whether we agree on the details or not. 😉
You managed to make a good review from a bad episode Alice, hats off. The amount of snark in here was well deserved. I never thought I would say I would prefer “Bugs” to anything, but this is it.
You mentioned something that I also found interesting about this season: the idea that Dean is relying on something a little stronger than alcohol. Sam’s later reference to “whatever else you’re taking” is ominous. I can understand the logic. Every hunter we’ve seen to date is a drinker; our main characters are increasingly reliant on alcohol. Dean has been through so much, both torture while he was in hell and torturing himself over Sam being in hell. Now that they’ve introduced the idea, I’d like to see it addressed.
I felt bad for Ben in this awkward mess. I know Dean’s personal experience tells him that you can’t be a hunter and a father at the same time. All the same, I wondered on some level if at the end of Season 6, Lisa would die and Dean would have had to take care of Ben. I could see him transplanted to South Dakota, making Bobby’s life more interesting. Dean and Sam would both hate the idea, but up until Castiel’s memory wipe, Ben already knew too much to be a civilian, but not enough to hunt without getting himself killed. Dean would have had to train him or see him dead through recklessness. It would have been more of Chuck’s tragic narrative symmetry.
Well obviously mileage varies and every episode. My biggest problems with HOTG was the trashing of every religion except Judeo-Christianity. If they had stuck with Gods that are no longer worshiped (the Greek, Roman and Norse Gods), I would have had no problem. Taking active relgions (Kali, the elephant God, etc.) misrepresenting them as all being cannibals and then making Lucifer an angel, not even God himself more powerful really hit some buttons for me.
The story itself was okay, but I personally had issues with the show flat out saying that religions that have many followers are invalid bothered me. Heck, I would have taken a quick, “We’re not strong enough for the battle because this is America and we gather our strength from our believers and most of those are not in America.
Like I said, personal problem.
Misrepresentation is a valid point, but at the time I first watched it, I just thought of Christianity overcoming paganism and was focused on the new ruthless side of Luci that was being shown, while trying to figure out why there was so much emphasis being put on his ‘daddy issues.’
I’m not a big fan of political correctness, and I think the Judeo-Christian religion has been equally misrepresented as far as many people are concerned so; yes, valid point, but not one that affected my enjoyment of the episode. But…portraying a dog as a parallel of Dean? That irritated me.
Not my favorite episode either, but your recaps are always great!
I still worry about Dean’s potential drug abuse…I just really don’t like the idea. The alcohol is bad enough, but I don’t want my hero turned into a drug addict too. I can understand the temptation, but that doesn’t mean I have to approve. That is something that could be addressed & worked through with Sam & Bobby’s help this season. I definitely want to see the brothers deal with both of their experiences in Hell & the ensuing ramifications.
This episode left me somewhat depressed, with the whole Dean-uses-drugs suggestion, plus the acknowledgment that Team Winchester was most certainly not having a winning season in the save-the-innocents category, and Dean’s belief that it was futile to try to maintain a family with Lisa & Ben. His talk with Ben showed how good a father he could actually be, which just broke my heart that he couldn’t have that opportunity.
I did like Sam trying to cheer Dean up & thanking him for not giving up on him. I think I saw the hint of a smile in Dean’s reaction to Sam professing that he had his brother’s back; it was so different from that look he gave to Soulless Sam’s empty words after the vampire incident.
I actually hope that of all the Dean plots that have been dropped throughout the series, that the alcohol and drug use is one that the writers will just let go. I’m really kind of bored with wandering through the brothers’ heads and all of their personal issues, which have never changed. I would much prefer that the writers just get on with telling a story.
But, like you, the brothers never winning anything has put the series in depressing territory. I am hoping that S7 doesn’t have them just running away from the big bad and wrestling with their personal problems endlessly. I want them standing tall and ganking for a change…like they were in S3 when they both were depicted as playing for keeps; not just playing like in S6.
Welcome to commenting here! I do love hearing opinions, especially from newer posters.
You make some excellent points. That montage was a bit weird, but in an episode that had me scratching my head the entire time, it’s the only part that made sense to me. I didn’t get weepy or gush over how bittersweet it was, but I got it. It was one of the very few things I did!
That’s so true that Sam didn’t go behind Dean’s back this time, but I guess my point was that since they were doing a lot of rehash, one would think that Dean would remember that. I am glad Sam didn’t go there though. If he did, then I would have given the entire writing staff some heck for that. I just found the two writers of this, who also wrote the equally as bad “All Dogs Go To Heaven” didn’t get the brothers.
I’m saving my overall season six review for a week before season seven begins, but in going through these episodes again I’m finding I didn’t hate season six, but I didn’t love it. I didn’t realize why until watching “No Rest of The Wicked” the other day. There were many good moments, but it lacked emotional punch. I realize it was noir and that’s not what noir is all about, but it just reinforced for me that I’m not a fan of noir! I do disagree with several comments though that it was a bad season. It was decent, just not my favorite.
I should explain Hammer of The Gods. It’s known by those that have been around a while that I personally hated Hammer of The Gods. With the hate of a thousand suns. I don’t think most on this site agree with that or even did when the episode came out. It’s just bias of mine that I tend to often bring it up bitingly for humor, so thus the reference. I’m pleased you liked it, and a lot of people here did as well.
Thanks again! I hope you choose to comment of future articles.
Am I the only one who didn’t think this episode was the visual equivalent of eating brussels sprouts? (Looks around tentatively and whispers) ‘I kinda liked it.’
Ok, in fairness, it wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst. Let’s face it; the whole MOTW element of this episode was secondary. Even I could have solved it. Strangely though, a lot of things people had issue with in this episode, I liked.
For example, I like that Sam and Dean can hunt separately. It shows they aren’t completely co-dependent, that they are perfectly competent on their own. I like that this episode shows that the boys hunt together because they [i]choose[/i] to hunt together, not because they [i]have[/i] to hunt together.
Secondly, dolls are scary. They have dead eyes. Sharks also have dead eyes and they’re scary ergo dolls = scary. Add to that, the science mannequin thing at the start totally creeped me out. The hook through it’s back was a complete throwback to the image of Dean in hell plus the fact that the model was sans skin was a a nice (!) reminder of a soul skinned alive.
(Actually what I find disturbing about that scene is that there are security cameras in the classroom. You guys are allowed security cameras in classrooms?? We’re not. I’d kill for a security camera in the classroom. Though I obviously wouldn’t kill IN the classroom due to the presence of the security camera that I had killed for but I really want one.)
Next up, the appearance of the, possibly not prescription, pills is a logical and telling step. How on earth did Dean cope with Sam being in hell? The first time Sam died Dean sold his soul. We saw how Sam coped (by going el loopo and being very, very tidy) but we’re meant to believe that Dean coped with Sam in hell by making scrambled eggs?? Not a hope! Dean had to take everything he was and shove it deep, deep down in order to show a (pretty) game face. No wonder the guy is ‘letting it out in spurts of violence and alcoholism’.
Take a look at the first two episodes where Dean was with the Braedons. There are precious few scenes where Dean doesn’t have some sort of drink in his hand. Dean has reached breaking point, the pills are a definite indicator of that, but he couldn’t break. He has everything he should want; girlfriend, kid, job, friends, a house etc. I seriously doubt he told anyone about Sam and the Cage, even Lisa. He wasn’t speaking to Bobby at this stage so how was Dean meant to deal? I think this (escalating dependence) will be addressed in season 7 in some way, shape or form.
In relation to the not having ‘the talk’, Dean is on tricky ground here. Talking about hell would have led to…. talking about hell which is one thing that Dean doesn’t want to do. He hasn’t a clue how to proceed with this so he reverts back to big brother Dean ‘Trust me on this one’. You can’t change the habit of a lifetime. The time for talking about hell will come later, when Sam isn’t fresh from a face-full of it. It’s why I like that Dean is overly jovial around Sam in this episode. He’s bricking himself but he can’t let Sam know that so he’s overcompensating. Hence the reiteration of ‘Be My Valentine’, it might serve as a reminder to Sam of things before hell.
The Dean/Lisa scene in the kitchen made me a little sad (and not in the ‘How pathetic’ sad way but more the ‘awwwww…’ sad way). I know Dean & Lisa is never going to work, mainly because it’s a TV show and we don’t like our guys to have girls but the finality of that scene gets me. Dean knows it’s over, Lisa knows it’s over but they both desperately want it to not be over.
Lisa did seem to get it, she was much more pragmatic than Dean in many regards. She knew the story and wanted to work with it but Dean cut himself out of that. Again, this added to the drink/drugs added to Sam’s soul and you have yourself a little Mr Deanuvius (I tried to put Dean and Vesuvius together but it didn’t work. Then I was thinking of Mount Dean but ah…. no. What about Mount Detna??)
It’s interesting that Dean, in telling Lisa to ask him for something, still sees his worth in terms of what he can do for others as opposed to who he is. He doesn’t seem to get that Lisa wants Dean for Dean which is another tragic element of the story. It took Ben, a freaking twelve year old to knock a bit of sense into Dean. I like that it was his words, not Sam’s or Bobby’s that made Dean change his ethos on what constitutes family.
So, in short (for me) I like this episode, a lot! Thanks Alice.
Hey, I LOVE brussel sprouts!!!! LOL
Dripping with butter!!! 😛
Agree with you about the episode though.
You do make a good case for the silver lining of this episode. Much as I disliked the monster plot, there were moments that impressed me. Even in lesser Supernatural episodes, there tends to be something to appreciate.
Mount Dean-atoa?
great recap of this not-so-great ep! I doubt I’ll ever watch it again without thinking about some of your comments. Thanks goodness that, even in the worst of the seasons, there are a few bright lights (sometimes just an expression, just a hairstyle, just a comment) to make me smile.